Daily Human Digest
Every day, the staff of the Genetic Literacy Project scours the Web for stories on a range of human genetics issues, including gene editing, regulations and bioethics, gene therapy, epigenetics, personal genomics, evolution, ancestry and artificial intelligence. We publish excerpts of those stories and encourage our readers to visit the original publications for the complete stories.
What are apes trying to communicate when they use gestures. Is there an evolutionary link to humans?
Apes, [...] do not inherit specific gestures, but they do inherit the sense that they can use gestures to communicate ...
COVID vaccine hesitancy: With fewer parents willing to have their children vaccinated, pediatricians are throwing away trays of expired pandemic vaccines
When pediatrician Eric Ball opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, ...
‘Men could become genetic mothers, women could be fathers’: The next technology after IVF could change the way we view parenthood gender
Consider in vitro gametogenesis, or I.V.G., a technology under development that would allow the creation of eggs or sperm from ...
A quarter of the world’s population eats insects almost daily. What would it take for you to join in the feast?
Some two billion people, about a quarter of the world’s population, already eat insects as part of their everyday diet, ...
Viewpoint — RFK, Jr. and Moms Across America’s Zen Honeycutt: How the loony left became conspiracy-mongering Trumpers
Even though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ended his presidential bid in August, he appears to be as busy as ever ...
Post Dobbs, conservative states’ abortion restrictions are forcing OBGYN doctors to go elsewhere for required training
[M]any residents across the country ... have gone out of state for training in abortion since Dobbs. Most of them ...
Not sleeping well? Blame your DNA
Sleep disorders ... have a significant genetic component. For instance, some people are genetically more likely to develop insomnia than ...
Cloud seeding nanomaterials: Desert countries are trying to wring rain out of wisps of clouds. How are they doing?
In a gold-trimmed command center on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, scientists are seeking to wring moisture from desert skies ...
A viral social media meme claims that Moderna has confirmed its mRNA COVID vaccine causes cancer. No, and here’s a fact check
Claim: Moderna confirms mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause cancer! People are sharing an article (archive) by The Expose (formerly The Daily ...
Will eye and face transplants become more common? First recipient is making a strong recovery
In June of 2021 Aaron James experienced a terrible accident while working as an electrical lineman. The 46-year-old military veteran ...
What are the key factors to look out for when monitoring cognitive decline? Here’s 4
Knowing how key cognitive functions could change in people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease can make a significant difference to patients and ...
Love your Apple watch? Wearable activity trackers show promise in detecting early signals of COVID, strokes and other diseases
Fitbit, Apple Watch or Oura ring, wearable technology is in high demand among the health conscious. But beyond measuring heart rates and blood ...
Human’s ability to digest carbs evolved as we went from hunter-gatherers to farmers
Scientists have long suspected that humans’ ability to digest starch may have increased after our ancestors transitioned from a hunter-gatherer ...
Mail order and foreign buyers beware: Criminal organizations are circulating potentially lethal fake Ozempic
In December [2023], Drew, a 36-year-old man from San Antonio, Texas, drove more than 250 miles to Mexico to buy ...
AI-guided personalized brain stimulators in development to pinpoint control depression and chronic pain from Parkinson’s
Recent experiments have begun individualizing brain stimulation for depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and chronic pain. While much more research is ...
Backward evolution? Brain impairment? Scientists probe guesses on why the Türkish family Ulas walks on all fours
The Ulas family, in southern Türkiye, is like no other. For the last two decades, some of its members have ...
Live, transparent mice? Pioneering technique could soon open the door to viewing how human organs work
When a dye called tartrazine is added to food, it creates a bright yellow hue often associated with lemon-flavored candy ...
‘We have this hubris as humans that we can control our technology’: Numerous extinct species could be revived before the end of this decade
Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based biotechnology and genetic engineering company, plans to bring back three iconic extinct species: the dodo (Raphus ...
Biopiracy? Are pharmaceutical companies stealing the genetic information in the developing world’s flora and fauna?
Low-income countries – where much of the world’s biodiversity remains – hope it could funnel billions into conserving the rainforests, ...
Fluoride in our water lowers IQ? Activists misrepresent problematic study in viral posts across social media
The National Toxicology Program (NTP), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has released a comprehensive study titled ...
AI-supported surveillance system maps the Aedes aegypti mosquito swarms in targeted disease control project
Satellite and street view images provide basis for more precise evaluation of the environmental conditions that favor the presence of ...
Word’s first AI sex toy has roots in practices of the earliest humans: ‘This is not your normal masturbation’
[A] man from Madrid who is trying out a male sex toy for the first time. He took the latest ...
Can Ozempic and other GLP-1 weight loss drugs make you suicidal
Is it even biologically plausible that Ozempic could lead to suicide? I think it is, actually. First off, we know ...
Shattered stereotypes: Half of people over 70 stay cognitively sharp
“The belief about old people is that they’re all kind of the same, they’re doddering, and that aging is this ...
5% of the population claim near-death experiences: Psychedelics may be a way to understand what happens in our brain
One person felt a sensation of “slowly floating into the air” as images flashed around. Another recalled “the most profound ...
Free will and the brain: Challenges to long-standing belief that that addiction is a disease
For decades, medical science has classified addiction as a chronic brain disease, but the concept has always been something of ...
The fossils that evolution forgot: Lungfish DNA 30-times bigger than ours
We already knew that the genomes of lungfish are huge, but how gigantic they really are and what can be ...
